Preview: Skullgirls -- Technology Versus Tits Edition

Mind you this is just an alpha build, but Skullgirls has a lot going for it. Very forward thinking for a genre that still trips over it's own fundamentals. Now if we could just get rid of all the T & A.

While at this year's Season's Beatings, I found myself searching for Autumn Games' Skullgirls. Due to travel delays, developer John Croft couldn't make it to the venue until the next day [Saturday]. Venturing over to the event's NeoGAF thread and twitter, there was speculation if the game would be shown at the popular fighting game tournament.

Taking into account the history of the fighting game community, it's really interesting to see, not only the Namco's and Capcom's going out of their way to debut games at these events. However an independent developer working on a fighting game, and not being primarily a Japanese company. They aren't releasing a game with a number after it. Skullgirls is set to be in a unique position before anyone has a chance to play it.

In hindsight, the deck is stacked against Skullgirls. Entering a community that has no problem playing a select few fighting games for almost a decade, almost seems like a Sisyphean endeavor.

Admittedly, I avoided Skullgirls. When I heard news of yet another fighter, which featured a two-dimensional aesthetic, being released during a time where fighting games could possibly be repeating mistakes from the late 90's. The fact that most characters are cute girls with no problem filling out a pixilated bra, gave me further pause.

Casual and hardcore fighting game fans alike are always looking for something different or innovative in the games they play. Peacock may be what we [all] need to see more of in games. Take chances like these. They'll pay off.

The strange thing about the current fighting game community is that we are filled with very vocal enthusiasts. We have no problem voicing concern and issues in the industry. However, as much as we complain, we still buy. We still consume anything and everything that slides our way for the sake of "supporting a genre" that came very close to death in the early years of the millennia.

I opted to sit down and play a couple rounds, while developer John Crofts was occupied fielding questions from interested attendees. Couldn't help but notice the bright white courier font of the phrase, "Alpha 0.6" in the lower left-hand corner. I hook up my joystick and notice that there is no need for a button check, the game may have been set for such an audience prone to bringing their own sticks.

I immediately break the game. Apparently at the end of every match there will be options to save your match's footage, check your character's move list among other features. Unfortunately, because this is an alpha build, these options were selectable, but not apart of the show. I chose to save the previous match's footage. This crashed the game and caused a mini-panic.

Touting technical achievements like GGPO integration, I'm hoping Skullgirls leans more towards moving the fighting game genre forward. I fear the constant panty shots and cleavage-jiggling may hinder that.

After a restart, there was a healthy crowd behind me. On the main menu you notice the character roster is noticeably thin, but not in the way your fifteen-year-old mind is thinking. Peacock, a character which seems ripped from the pages of E. C. Segar -- the quirky cast has something visually off about their figures. The mini-skirt of Parasoul flashes the player's a panty-shot when she attempts a low-forward roundhouse. Yet the fully dressed, 1930s cartoonish homage'd Peacock, throws pies and shoots giant bullets from a gun that could have come from Bluto. Who is this for?

It's confusing to me and I'm a hardcore game fighting fan. But it's only confusing after talking to John about the game's influences and fighting mechanics. A player can pick one character, while the other can pick up to three. There is a ratio system [like Capcom vs SNK 2] to keep the game's damage and health balanced, hence that one character will have more strength than the other player who has two partners.

John tells me they're keeping the roster low to make sure balance isn't an issue. Knowing that the game is downloadable [$15.00 USD] and there will be more characters along the way, makes me think these guys really do care about this game and what they are doing.

So why the jiggle? Why have a character that references early motion cartoons of the golden age opposite one referencing all that's typical and rote about the fighting game genre [2D, 3D, American and Japanese are all culpable]?

I understand that Skullgirls is trying to grab a crowd that has had plenty of fighting games, and subsequent male-titilation thrown at them, but it already had a lot going for it. The art could be confused with BlazBlue and Guilty Gear by a laymen. If you look at one of the backgrounds of the fight stages, and see a "shark doctor" talking to, well, a non-shark doctor, images of old Adult Swim and Venture Brothers come to mind.

Getting past this, there are some mechanical issues of note in Skullgirls. There is a rigidity to the controls similar to that of the King of Fighters series. Damage scaling, where multiple-hit combos should take less damage the higher the combo, seems set too low. Though the play was immensely fun, matches went on for way too long. With nods to Marvel vs Capcom and Super Street Fighter, Skullgirls has a meter system, combo counters and super moves. However, having players with too much health, made watching these creative combos a bit boring after a while.

I'm being harsher on a game that I actually came away liking. Skullgirls is the birth product of the fighting game community. For better or worse. Hopefully Autumn Games and Reverge Labs will listen to the community they've slaved away so meticulously to appease. It really is quite a unique game worth keeping an eye out for, I just wish I could feel comfortable playing this in front of my mom.